27 replies to this topic

[thegamer23]

So, here we are!
Today was an historic day in the Motorsport Fairytale.

Formula E's adventure begun this morning in Beijing in a very exciting way. I enjoyed it a lot, and screamed out loudly at the final crash. Big emotions

Wheel to wheel battles all around the field, cool power management strategies (see Nick Heidfeld's recovery in the final laps) and an incredible Dramatic final lap with the QuickNick catching and attacking Nicolas Prost for the lead at the final turn.
Than this



A lot of discussion came from today's race and that's only good for Formula E to get more popular around pure motorsport maniacs also!  

Now we have 2 months ahead of the next race ( :( ) in Malaysia.

So...how do you judge the first outfit of the young Formula E Championship? 

So those are my picks: 
 

Race Rating: 8/10
Best Driver: Nick Heidfeld
Worst Driver: Nicolas Prost (a shame, beacause it was an hell of a drive till the crash) 
Best Team: Audi ABT
Best Overtake: Montagny on Pic at race start
Best Moment: Last lap bundle. That was indeed a strong one, even if i was scared by QuickNick's airbone. 
Cars: Looks great 
Sound: Ok
Circuit rating: 4/10
Broadcast: 8/10, ITV4 duo was entertaining imho


And the race in a sentence: Enjoyable
Additional comments: 

Edited by thegamer23, 13 September 2014 - 14:29.

[ExFlagMan]

They need to put the graphics designer up against a wall - what good is battery usage figures in off-white on a very pale blue background with another blue/white background floating round behind it. Just because the graphics package gives you all these little toys it is not necessary to use them.

Could only just make out any figures when sat 2ft in front of the TV set. What looks good on a laptop screen when designing it does not necessarily work when displayed on the average TV set, but I guess they never bothered to try it in a real situation.

[Richard T]

Couldn't agree with OP more, just copy/paste on the ratings 

[aditya-now]

Couldn't agree with OP more, just copy/paste on the ratings 

 

Dito.

 

7/10

 

Surprisingly great racing - Formula E is here to stay. A portal into the future has opened - a connecting link between motorsports today and what it will be like (probably exclusively by then) in 50 years time. Clean, silent running, yet carrying all the elements that make a good combustion Formula race. I am amazed how well everything worked. Small number of technical problems for a first race shows how professional everything is. Even changing cars worked well and was (at least for me) no downer. (Reminds me a little bit of the old times - Le Mans start!) It's a pity they have minimum times, though, below which no one can go for the car change. Should also be in Formula E that the best man/team wins the pit stops!

 

Impressive list of pilots, impressive list of teams, America, Europe and Asia (US, France, Germany, India, China.....) all represented. Luckily the fan boost played no role although I will be interested if it can not/will not be one day the tiny bit that decides a race....

 

The writings/inserts in the world feed need to be improved. Also to be improved: the podium ceremony - and the national anthems.

 

When F1 started at Silverstone 1950, there were surely not so many elements in place yet - then again, it was a completely different time. Silverstone 1950 showed the way into the automobile future, as Beijing 2014 has done today. Congrats to everyone who was around to witness history in the making and especially congrats to all those who believed in it and made it possible, first of all Alejandro Agag and Jean Todt!

 

Finally: nice to have a Brazilian winning - one of the great motorsport nations. Great showing by Heidfeld and Montagny. Will be curious to see how the races play out in the future when e-technology becomes even more advanced. And - we have already the first villain of the series as well - could not have been better scripted!

Edited by aditya-now, 13 September 2014 - 15:19.

[Sardukar]

One thing about the fan boost is that its actually not that great because you are still using up more energy, which means you would have to go slower at the end of your stint anyway.

[SpartanChas]

I only caught the second half of the race but it looked fine. Definitely not a 'joke' or an 'embarrassment to Motorsport' as some labelled it a few months ago.

Can't wait to see it on a better track though. The circuit today looked completely bland.

[balaclava]

Other than the sound being more alike to a forklift race than actual motorsport, it was really enjoyable. It's an excellent starting point, with nice racing and intriguing strategic possibilities. If they devolop the electric engine and batteries enough to give the cars more speed over 25 laps it could be a blast. A 25 lap sprint going loco sounds fun, and it is.

[Sin]

I loved it particulary the last lap was intense I'm officially a Formula E fan now .... since I deleted everything F1 related from both twitter and tumblr last week I needed a new racing series next to MotoGP ......

 

I just won't follow F1 anymore till it stops being so unfair (only 1 team always winning) and expensive....

 

on a sidenote: holy **** how did I get nearly 2000 posts on this forum, I can't even remember making half of them....

 

probably forgot them in Passion when defending Sebby... I'm a vampire bat after all we are very protective..... ja ja ;)...

Edited by Sin, 13 September 2014 - 23:03.

[Seanspeed]

I rate the music a 5/10. They should totally add some dubstep next time.

[nosecone]

I dare to say i love the sound. Call me crazy but... it's something special

[Jimisgod]

Race Rating: 7.5/10

Best Driver: Nick Heidfeld.

Worst Driver: Alguersuari was anonymous.

Best Team: The one Prost was in.

Best Overtake: Montagny on Pic

Most Dramatic Moment: Nick/Nick crash.

Cars: Look better than F1.

Sound: Who cares, seems like a huge jerk off by people who have decided to hate the series.

Circuit rating: 3/10

Edited by Jimisgod, 14 September 2014 - 03:11.

[bourbon]

Race Rating: 7/10
Best Driver: Nicolas Prost (whole weekend)  Hon. Mention to Heidfeld (race strategy and last minute surge)
Worst Driver: Bruno Senna
Best Team: E.dams
Best Overtake: Heidfeld into 4th
Best Moment: Race Start
Cars: Great
Sound: Tolerable, but should drop it a few octaves and raise the sound
Circuit rating: fine
Broadcast: 8/10, I liked Jan and whoever that was with him, they were great as knowledgeable commentators

[PassWind]

Will watch it after the V8's however 10/10 for coverage, a internet link with Practice, Qualy and the Race. Just wow, already better than most racing going on around the world. 

[lbennie]

loved it.

 

I was very skeptical heading in too.

 

Fantastic stuff, they have made a fan.

[f1RacingForever]

Watched for about 5 minutes. The sound was unpleasant so I turned it off.

[aditya-now]

I rate the music a 5/10. They should totally add some dubstep next time.

 

I rate the music a 1/10.

 

I have no idea what that music has to do with a motor race.

[Ducks]

I really enjoyed it and its a shame we have to wait so long for the next one, something that has annoyed me is the comments about this series by posters who clearly didnt watch the race, popped in a few hours later saw some people had enjoyed it and decided to slate it.

 

Heidfeld for WDC!

[dweller23]

A solid 2/10, the crash had me waken up from that misery.

[Topsu]

Let's see

-Horrible track

-Slow cars

-Bad drivers

-Stupid music

-Stupid graphics

 

0/10 won't watch again.

[Gridfire]

I thought the race was pretty good, though it had more mechanical failures than I'd usually like - in a spec series a mech failure while other cars carry on is just bad luck, and that's no fun. All new cars though, so it's not unexpected at this stage!

 

A lot of teething troubles with the organisation and presentation also - what was going on with the national anthems cut wonkily short? The graphics overlays could have been clearer too. The music... wasn't my taste, which means I was subject to several hours of stuff I didn't really want to hear instead of a regular race's screaming engines. I guess they have to play something though since the electric motors/gearboxes aren't the most pleasant of sounds.

 

I see someone above complaining about slow cars... uh, compared/relative to what, and why on Earth should that matter when they're racing only each other? An F1 car couldn't do that tight temporary Beijing street circuit any faster than the Fe cars, I'd strongly suspect, and nor could a big heavy sports car.

[noikeee]

 

An F1 car couldn't do that tight temporary Beijing street circuit any faster than the Fe cars, I'd strongly suspect, and nor could a big heavy sports car.

 

lol no. Absolutely not. You're miles wrong on that.

 

The FE cars were struggling to get past 160km/h at the end of the straights (admitedly these weren't very long straights, but still)... and they didn't look like they cornered at the level of a F1 car neither.

 

They did Formula Ford laptimes in Donington ffs.

[ExFlagMan]

You expect them to corner like an F1 car when they are on almost road-legal tyres?
I don't really understand those that think speed it the only thing that really matters for a race series. It's all comparative, one of the best races I ever saw was a full grid of Citroen 2CV's round Oulton Park. Four cars abreast into Druids and the same 4 cars abreast out of the 2 apex corner, and not one of the cars was in the same relative position across the track on entry and exit - and they managed to keep it up lap after lap without knocking bits off each others cars.

OK the circuit was not that inspiring, but there again not many temporary street circuits are.

Seemed to have pulled a reasonable TV audience in the UK for early Saturday morning, figures are not that much lower than those pulled in by Sky for some exclusive GP's at that time of the morning.

[Gridfire]

lol no. Absolutely not. You're miles wrong on that.

 

The FE cars were struggling to get past 160km/h at the end of the straights (admitedly these weren't very long straights, but still)... and they didn't look like they cornered at the level of a F1 car neither.

 

They did Formula Ford laptimes in Donington ffs.

 

Well neither of us have actual real data on F1 cars doing the Beijing circuit - I base my suspicions on the fact that those electric motors have a really instant torque coming out of the corners, that I don't believe any of those 90deg bends or chicanes could be done any quicker in an F1 car, and while an F1 car clearly has more top speed, how often could it really deploy that around this circuit? Even if I'm wrong and the F1 car car lap Beijing's street circuit faster, so what? F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport, so they say, and FE cars are not competing against them!

 

The Donington point is entirely irrelevant. There are no Donington type circuits (purpose built F1 suitable tracks) on the FE calendar. Monaco is the closest we'll see, and that's no race track either.

[ExFlagMan]

Some of those knocking FE already have completely missed the point - FE is an attempt to take racing to those who would baulk at the sort of prices that F1 tracks have to charge and reduce the hassle of actually getting to and from the venue.
OK it is not as fast as F1 but them not many forms of motorsport are. I bet that most of those who get to see it live from a lot closer than spectators at the average GP circuit manage, will not really be able to tell the difference. Even FF1600 seemed pretty fast at the Birmingham Superprix when you where stood only a few feet away.

It might even do what F1 has singularly failed to do - draw in the younger audience and who knows it might convert some of them to other forms of motorsport. FE to the rescue of F1!

[Viceroy]

Race Rating: 8/10

Best Driver: Heidfeld

Worst Driver:Trulli

Cars: Look great, hope they will get more power in the future.

Sound: not worse than f1

Circuit rating: 8/10  I like street circuits, walls make the driving much more challenging than huge tarmac-runoffs.

 

[CJFG]

I gave it 7/10. The racing was actually pretty good; decent amount of overtaking (no DRS needed here), differing strategies with battery power, standard of drivers helped for an inaugural race, and the fact that cars could follow each other closely meant proper racing was more likely.

However, the incident at the end was not only unwarranted but hugely dangerous and Prost's 10-place grid penalty for Putrajaya was too lenient considering how violent an accident Heidfeld had. I'd also ditch the in-race music as that just got on my nerves and the Beijing circuit should be tweaked if they return there in the future. The kerbs were huge, parts of the track were too narrow and those chicanes didn't add much either, they just slowed the pace of the race.

Overall though I thought it was a good first attempt for FE, a step towards the future, and I can say they've got a fan in me.

Edited by CJFG, 16 September 2014 - 12:26.

[Longtimefan]

2/10 and thats being generous.

 

Needless to say, I won't be watching any more of them.

[Buttoneer]

7/10 from me.

 

Will watch it after the V8's however 10/10 for coverage, a internet link with Practice, Qualy and the Race. Just wow, already better than most racing going on around the world. 

Kinda agree with this except the live timing needs to actually work.  Great that they tried, and brilliant that they intend to do clever stuff with onboard feeds, but get the basics sorted first please.